Description

In this deeply personal and thought-provoking conversation, Adrienne Erdman shares her journey from biomedical engineering and human factors into architecture and healthcare design. As Director of Design Research at Ewing Cole and Vice President of Research & Development for the Trauma-Informed Design Society, Adrienne brings a systems-thinking, human-centered lens to the built environment.

The heart of this episode explores birth as a design challenge, not just clinically, but emotionally and operationally. Adrienne vulnerably shares her own birth experiences, highlighting how small operational breakdowns, sensory overload, and communication gaps can compound into trauma, even when clinical outcomes are positive.

We explore her recent national birth experience survey and the powerful "She Said" exhibit, which centers the voices of mothers through immersive storytelling. Together, we examine how healthcare designers can balance safety, personalization, emotional support, and operational efficiency to create spaces that truly honor families at one of life's most pivotal moments.

Key Takeaways

• 40% of surveyed mothers described their birth experience as traumatic even when outcomes were medically "successful."
• Experience does not equal outcome. Positive clinical results do not guarantee positive emotional impact.
• Human factors design examines biomechanics, cognition, psychology, sociology, and systems, and applies them to both products and spaces.
• Designing with people, not for them, builds trust, buy-in, and better outcomes.
• Maternity spaces often prioritize worst-case medical readiness over physiological normalcy and emotional comfort.
• Environmental stressors, lighting, noise, temperature, and interruptions significantly shape perception of care.
• Partner accommodations are frequently overlooked but critical to family-centered care.
• Access to maternity care remains fragile, especially in rural communities.
• Prenatal experiences are often inefficient and disruptive, presenting an opportunity for redesign.
• The future of healthcare must be holistic, integrating lifestyle, environment, nutrition, and lived experience.

Why This Matters

Birth is one of the only reasons a healthy person enters a hospital. It is a clinical event but also a life milestone, a family origin story, and a deeply vulnerable experience.

When design fails to account for emotional context, sensory experience, and operational nuance, trauma can occur even when clinical metrics look good on paper.

Healthcare design has the opportunity and responsibility to:

• Reduce preventable stressors
• Empower mothers as active participants
• Support partners and families
• Balance medical readiness with personalization
• Address trauma-informed principles in the built environment

As maternity services evolve from hospital-based models to birthing centers and expanded midwifery programs, design will play a pivotal role in shaping safer, more dignified, and more human birth experiences.

 The "She Said" Exhibit

"She Said", an immersive audio-visual installation featured at a Toronto colloquium on birth design.

Using quotes from nearly 400 U.S. birth survey respondents, layered with video and sound, the exhibit centered maternal voices rather than the clinical environment itself transforming research into emotional storytelling.

It represents a powerful example of research translation through design.

Rethinking Birth Spaces

Design opportunities discussed in this episode include:

• Reducing sensory overload in labor & delivery and OR environments
• Designing rooms for physiological birth first with hidden medical readiness
• Improving partner sleeping accommodations and room layout
• Allowing personalization and environmental control
• Supporting movement with tools like birthing balls, ropes, and tubs
• Creating prenatal clinics that respect patients' time and work lives

Resources Mentioned

• Trauma-Informed Design Society - https://www.tidsociety.com/
• "She Said" Birth Experience Survey (2023–2024)
• The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier - https://a.co/d/0dNFnpBV
• Becker's Hospital Review (article referenced regarding rural maternity closures) - https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/124-rural-hospitals-closed-labor-and-delivery-in-6-years-analysis/

About the Guest

Adrienne Erdman is the Director of Design Research at Ewing Cole, specializing in healthcare, and science and technology environments. With a background in biomedical engineering and human factors, she integrates research, systems thinking, and human-centered design into impactful architectural solutions.

She also serves as Vice President of Research & Development for the Trauma-Informed Design Society, advancing evidence-based approaches to trauma-informed design within the built environment.

Connect with Adrienne on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrienneerdman/

About the Podcast

The Architecture of Healing explores how strategy, operations, design, research, and human experience intersect to shape healthcare environments. Through conversations with executives, planners, strategists, architects, clinicians, researchers, and innovators, the show examines how space influences health, dignity, and wellbeing.

Learn more at:  www.thearchitecturofhealing.com

Connect with Chase Miller on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chase-h-miller/

If this episode resonated with you, share it with a colleague, leave a review, and join us in reimagining healthcare environments that truly heal, not just clinically, but holistically.